


Snarl

by beautifulandsweet



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 10:31:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17098937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beautifulandsweet/pseuds/beautifulandsweet
Summary: The scarier Sting was, the safer they both were.Rogue feels guilty about the years when the Twin Dragons were the living weapons of Sabertooth.This could be read as a follow-up to "Nightmares" but stands on its own.





	Snarl

After the Grand Magic Games, Sabertooth changed almost overnight. Suddenly, there was laughter in the guild hall. People no longer scurried and cowered when they returned from missions. More missions appeared on the job board, and there were more wizards to take them.

Rogue glanced across at Sting, who had joined Orga on top of a table for a spontaneous rap battle. Both singers were booed and assaulted with popcorn, and Rogue was surprised to see that Minerva was one of the popcorn-throwers. She had slung an arm around Yukino, who giggled behind a hand when Sting snapped a kernel from mid-air with his mouth.

“I cannot recall a time when the guild was so… happy.” Rufus leaned against the wall next to Rogue. “Yesterday I overheard one of the new recruits saying that they had never seen a frown on Sting’s face.”

“That impression won’t last long,” Rogue said. Their young guildmaster might have a fun side, but he also had a temper. He overreacted to any perceived slight and pouted when he didn’t get his way. Even so, Rogue was glad to see him relaxing with their guildmates. 

Orga won the rap battle, mostly because Sting had tripped over his own feet and fallen off the table. For a minute, he lay sprawled out on the floor, hands raised in surrender but still laughing.

“How quickly they forget,” Rufus said. “Not so long ago, they wouldn’t have known what Sting’s smile looked like. Not a real smile, anyway.”

Rogue wondered if he should help his partner up, but Yukino had already run over to put a shoulder under his arm. Sting pretended not to be able to stand up and dramatically flopped back onto the floor, taking Yukino down with him. “Very true.”

For years, Sting had been little more than a living weapon-- a snarling, angry beast at Master Jiemma’s beck and call. He had been driven by pride and vengeance, forever talking about defeating the Salamander. Lector had egged him on, and to Rogue’s shame, he had gone along with everything, too. The scarier Sting was, the safer they both were.

“Rogue?” Rufus gave him a look as if he had missed something. “I said, are you okay?”

“Fine.” Frosch had appeared from somewhere and drooped sleepily against Rogue’s leg. “I guess it’s time to head home for the night.”

Across the room, Lector had thrown himself onto the dog pile forming around Sting and Yukino. Rogue shook his head with a smile and quietly excused himself.

On the way home, he tucked Frosch into his jacket. It was dark outside and cold enough that his breath turned white under the streetlights. The quiet streets suited him just fine. He loved the guild hall, but he just couldn’t think in all the bustle and noise. Speaking of noise...

“Hey, wait up!” Sting ran up behind him with Lector right behind him. “Why’d you leave without me?”

Rogue shrugged and offered an apologetic smile. “Frosch was tired.”

“Guess it was getting late, huh?” Sting shivered and rubbed his mostly bare arms. “Geez, it got cold. Let’s hurry back, okay?”

“Wait, you’re staying over tonight?”

“I was planning to.” Sting tilted his head. “You seem down. Everything okay?”

“No.” Rogue did not mean to say anything more, but under Sting’s curious gaze, he found himself telling Sting about his conversation with Rufus.

Sting chuckled. “He’s right. Maybe I should walk in tomorrow and snarl at some of the youngsters.” He grinned viciously, the way he used to-- less like a golden retriever and more like a bull shark. “Strike the holy fear right into their hearts, huh?”

“We just got our recruitment rates up. Don’t go scaring them all away.”

Sting tilted his lips into an exaggerated pout. “I guess. That still doesn’t explain why you’re upset, though.”

Rogue shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I guess… I’m feeling guilty, is all.”

“For what?”

They had reached Rogue’s door, but Rogue paused outside. He had the feeling that his next words might send Sting stomping back to his own apartment.

“It’s like Rufus said. We weren’t always this happy-go-lucky, and part of that is my fault. Master Jiemma wanted us to be soldiers. Weapons. Weapons don’t crack jokes or sing on tabletops.”

Sting was back to rubbing his arms, but he did not push to go inside. “Yeah, I know. We were strong. Scary. That’s not a bad thing, really. ‘Scary’ can save us a lot of trouble from the riff raff.”

“You sound like Jiemma.”

“Ouch.” Sting clutched his heart. “Words that wound, man.”

Rogue pushed on. “I think it’s my fault that you were the scariest of us all.” He did not have to continue. Sting knew. He had lived through it, too. Master Jiemma had used them against each other. When Rogue screwed up, it was Sting who was punished, and vice versa. Rogue did not get punished often.

To his surprise, Sting just shrugged. “That’s all in the past. We don’t have to be monsters anymore.” His smile turned grim. “I mean, we can be, but we have other options now.”  
“Anyway.” Sting stepped around Rogue to open the door himself. “I wasn’t the scariest.”

 

That night, Rogue had nightmares. He dreamed of a young, snarling Sting who looked totally at home in the armory with a sharp knife in his hand. He dreamed of Sting’s face wet with tears and his wrists bloody.

He dreamed about the time Master Jiemma hauled Sting’s bruised and crumpled form into the hall and tossed him at Rogue. Sting’s head had cracked on the floor, a sickening sound that Rogue would never, ever forget.

“--ake up. Wake up, damn it.”

Rogue blinked his eyes open to find Sting crouched over him on the bed. Rogue stiffened. “What happened?”

“You tell me.” Sting rolled away. Despite the cold, he had only worn sleep pants to bed. From the light of the window, Rogue could count his scars-- the pale lines at his wrist, the twisted scar in front of his left shoulder, the deep groove above his eye-- so many scars, but no new ones. 

"Rogue?”

“Sorry, still coming back online.” Rogue grimaced. “I dreamed about when we were kids.”

He could have lied, but he suspected that Sting could smell the difference between truth and a lie. Anyway, they had promised each other long ago that they would not lie about their nightmares. Secret fears had a way of coming up on missions when their lives were on the line. They had to know what they were facing if they wanted to live through it.

“Not fun.” Sting tilted his head. “Anything specific?”

“The time you hit your head.”

Sting smirked. “More specific than that. My head’s taken a couple hits over the years.”

“Good thing it’s so thick.” Sting pretended shock, but Rogue just shook his head. “You know what I’m talking about. After that failure on the coast, when Jiemma half-killed you.”

“Yeah. You were pretty mad after that,” Sting said.

“Huh?” Rogue sat up. “After?”

“You don’t remember?”

Rogue remembered bandaging Sting up and keeping him awake all that night. Rogue had told him every story he could think of and made up a few on the spot. He had been so afraid that Sting had a concussion. Sting did not have a concussion that time, but he had his first a few weeks after that. Minerva helped keep him awake then, probably because she felt guilty for launching him across the training floor.

“You don’t remember,” Sting said in an odd voice. “Huh. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You attacked Master Jiemma,” Sting said. “No, really, ask the others. Rufus and Minerva both saw it. I was still pretty out of it, but I guess you gathered your shadows around you like you do sometimes. Almost dragged him into the shadow realm with you. I don’t know what Jiemma saw, but it’s the one and only time I ever saw him scared.” 

“Really?” Rogue tried, but he had no memory of ever standing up to Jiemma. “You sure you didn’t dream it all?”

Sting coughed out a laugh. “No, man, I didn’t dream it. We all talked about it afterward. Minerva thought Jiemma had killed you, he knocked you so hard into the wall.”

Rogue shook his head. “No. No, I remember taking care of you…”

“Oh, you did. After you woke up, anyway. Then we stayed up all night, and you wouldn’t stop talking. That’s when I got to know all your embarrassing stories.” Sting smiled to let him know that he was joking, but Rogue was still processing.

“I… stood up to him?” Rogue shook his head. “No. No, you were always the one protecting me.”

“That’s flattering, dude, but totally not true. Why do you think Jiemma didn’t mess with you as much as he messed with the rest of us?” Sting shook his head. “You know, that whole scene at Crocus? All your fault.”

Rogue slumped back on the bed. “Sorry, my brain’s not working at this hour. I’m not following.”

“Back when Master Jiemma hurt Lector, I was thinking about that time you stood up to him. The one time I saw him scared. I admit, I was half out of my mind that night, thinking I’d lost Lector, but... if I hadn’t seen you stand up to him that one time, I never would have stood up to him, too. I never would have got there on my own.”

Rogue shook his head. “Yes, you would’ve. You’re a natural-born leader. If it hadn’t been that night, it would have another time. Even Minerva thinks so.”

“Well, I hate to disagree with M’lady, but I know better. You were talking earlier about how we were like weapons, tools that Jiemma used to gather power. A weapon doesn’t think for itself. I was like that-- a weapon. You? You were always a warrior.”

“What are you talking about?” Rogue could feel his cheeks burning. He wanted to believe that. Maybe then he would stop feeling guilty for relying on Sting’s ferocity to keep the monsters at bay for all those years.

Sting shifted so that he was crouched over Rogue again. “You hid it well, but you always had a mind of your own. You thought things through… still do. You kept us safe when I was too busy picking fights and acting like Fiore’s biggest and baddest.”

Sting leaned down so that his forehead touched Rogue’s. “You always had a smile for Frosch and Lector, too. You gave me a reason to smile.”

Rogue reached up with gentle fingers to touch the smile on Sting’s face. “I’m really glad.”

“You do realize that tomorrow, we’re going back to the guild hall, and I’m going to growl and grimace and give everyone the death glare.”

Rogue laughed. “So much for our recruitment rate.”


End file.
